This is definitely the most personal post I have ever written on Brit On A Budget, because in today’s post I have decided to lift the curtain on my spending diary for the month of September.
For the last 3 years, I have tracked every single penny, in order to keep an eye on where my money is going. I have never been on an amazing salary, but as you might know from reading my blog, I like to try different ways to increase my income – because the pennies always add up!
I wanted to write this post so my readers can have an insight into my spending habits, and to lift the lid on what a normal 21-year-old spends in an average month. I hope you enjoy reading, and without further ado lets analyse my spending!
Going Out For Drinks – Total Spend: £57.20
I definitely do go out a lot less than the average 21-year-old, but I do enjoy the occasional drink on a Friday and Saturday evening!
The total spend on socialising in September is a lot less than what it would have been a few months ago, although I definitely feel like this could be cut down a lot by buying a few bottles of wine from the shop and drinking at home. However, I do enjoy the atmosphere of going out to the pub and having a couple of drinks.
Bridge Tolls – Total Spend: £30
So this category is one that I would struggle to cut down on. I live on one side of the Humber Bridge, and my partner lives on the other side, hence why I spend so much on bridge tolls! At £1.50 either way, it definitely adds up and can become very pricey.
Car Expenses – Total Spend: £100.08
Again, this is another category that I can’t cut down on. My car tax is £13.56 a month, and in September I paid £86.52 towards my car insurance. This amount also includes my car insurance for August too, as me being a bit dim I accidentally cancelled my car insurance direct debit…don’t ask me how!!
Petrol – Total Spend: £172.09
My petrol spend isn’t normally this high, as I usually budget £100 for petrol, so I have no idea what went wrong this month! Because my boyfriend lives around 40 minutes away from me, I spend a lot of time driving backwards and forwards between our houses. So I can only assume this is how I spent so much on petrol this month.
Meals Out – Total Spend – £28.02
We have massively cut down on going out for meals, but I still really enjoy going for the occasional date night. It’s nice just to spend some time together and not have any distractions when we go out. For this reason, I’m quite happy to spend about £30 a month going for meals.
Takeaways – Total Spend: £77.68
To be completely honest with you all, I am so ashamed of the total for this category! I always make sure to bring a packed lunch to work, but this month I spent a total of £10.56 on buying lunches at work, which includes: £6.07 at McDonald’s, £2.50 at Subway and £1.99 at KFC. I also spent £23.55 on JustEat, £36.27 on Dominos (WHAAAAAT!), £21.42 at Burger King and £7.30 on Starbucks.
Most of the time we order takeaway out of pure laziness. One of us can’t be bothered to cook and we pick the lazy option of ordering food instead. We went to Burger King for breakfast (yes, I had a burger for breakfast don’t judge me!) on the way to Chester Zoo that my boyfriend had booked as a surprise treat, and the £7.30 at Starbucks was for a coffee and a panini one Saturday morning. This isn’t something I do very often at all, but I must admit it was nice to relax and enjoy some time to myself to gather my thoughts.
Holidays – Total Spend: £172
In September, I spent £72 on a hotel that I had booked as a surprise for my boyfriend. I also spent £100 on booking a mystery holiday. Again, these aren’t common expenses for me, but we do enjoy travelling places together and we’re young so why not!
Personal Care – Total Spend: £33.91
This includes £18.30 that I spend on contact lenses every month, which is an essential expense, as well as £15.61 that I spent in Boots. This was on new razor heads (which are extremely expensive by the way!) and skincare products as my skin wasn’t in great condition so I decided to have a pamper day!
Groceries – Total Spend: £55.74
This works out at £14 per week, which I don’t think is too bad for groceries. I actually used to have a habit of taking evening trips to Morrisons just to get out of the house, but I have cut this down massively – you would be surprised at how much I used to spend!
So there we go, my spending diary for September! I definitely have a lot to improve on, but at the moment I am young and enjoying life. I also manage to save money every month, and contribute towards my pension and house deposit savings. Let me know your thoughts on my spending diary in the comments below!
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I can definitely relate. These expenses add up so fast especially the car maintenance and eating out. Recently, I have started cooking food at home for lunch because eating out for lunch has become expensive. Great tips and post.
Thank you for the comment! They do add up so fast and it’s easy to lose track of it, which is why i track everything!
It can be a completely eye opening experience tracking spends like this – I have done this in the past and was surpirsed at how much I spent in various areas. For me, I save quite a lot by having drinks in the house before going out, I don’t drive either which saves me, but I do live in London so things are walk-able and buses are cheap. My biggest expense if eating out – over the last year I have cut down on takeaways and I do cook more now but going out for dinner is still a big expenditure! Maybe I can improve in 2020!
Completely agree we spend a lot on food and eating out but I think when we get our own place everything will change! Thank you for the comment!